They include the world's smallest known insect
They include the world's smallest known insect
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Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies or fairy wasps, is a family of chalcid wasps found in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world. It contains around 100 genera with 1400 species. Fairyflies are very small insects. They have body lengths from 0.13 to 5.4 mm (0.0051 to 0.2126 in), averaging at 0.5 to 1.0 mm (0.020 to 0.039 in). Their bodies are usually nonmetallic and colored black, brown, or yellow.
They can be distinguished from other chalcid wasps by having an H-shaped pattern of sutures, known as trabeculae or carinae, below the frontmost ocelli and the inner eye margins. Rarely, the sutures can also extend behind the ocelli. Fairyflies have long antennae, at least as long as the head and the mesosoma (middle part of the body). The antennal toruli (sockets of the antennae) are set high on the head and near the eye margins. They are separated by a distance of three to five times their own diameter. In contrast, the antennae of other chalcid wasps are separated only by one diameter. In females, the antennae are tipped with club-like segments known as clava. In males, the antennae are filiform (thread-like).
After emerging, females search rapidly for suitable host eggs by tapping their antennae over stems or barks of plants. When a telltale scar left by egg-laying insects is found, they will insert their antennae into the recess and check to see if the eggs are suitable. If they are, she will thrust her ovipositor into all of the eggs and lay her own eggs inside in quick succession. She retains contact with each of the eggs with her antennae while doing this. Most fairyflies require a sufficient amount of development in embryos inside the eggs before they attack them, as their offspring cannot mature if the eggs are too new or if the embryos inside are too advanced. Older host embryos are apparently harder for the fairyfly larvae to digest, but there are exceptions. Some species of Polynema can attack embryos at various stages of development. They have been recorded to produce three successive generations in a single brood of the treehopper Ceresa. All fairyflies possess ellipsoid eggs with a long tapering stalk. They develop rapidly once laid and can hatch in six hours to two days. Several generations may be produced in a year, often on different hosts.......source
After emerging, females search rapidly for suitable host eggs by tapping their antennae over stems or barks of plants. When a telltale scar left by egg-laying insects is found, they will insert their antennae into the recess and check to see if the eggs are suitable. If they are, she will thrust her ovipositor into all of the eggs and lay her own eggs inside in quick succession. She retains contact with each of the eggs with her antennae while doing this. Most fairyflies require a sufficient amount of development in embryos inside the eggs before they attack them, as their offspring cannot mature if the eggs are too new or if the embryos inside are too advanced. Older host embryos are apparently harder for the fairyfly larvae to digest, but there are exceptions. Some species of Polynema can attack embryos at various stages of development. They have been recorded to produce three successive generations in a single brood of the treehopper Ceresa. All fairyflies possess ellipsoid eggs with a long tapering stalk. They develop rapidly once laid and can hatch in six hours to two days. Several generations may be produced in a year, often on different hosts.......source
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